Communication device to generate and process a clear to send announcement frame

ABSTRACT

A communication device configured to generate a clear-to-send (CTS)-Announcement frame and to transmit the CTS-Announcement frame to one or more other communication devices. The CTS-Announcement frame can include an organizationally unique identifier (OUI) and a portion of network interface controller (NIC) identifier, and announcement information of the device&#39;s activities and/or state.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/985,972, filed Dec. 31, 2015, which claims the benefit of U.S.Provisional Patent Application No. 62/116,158, filed on Feb. 13, 2015,both of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.

BACKGROUND Technical Field

This application relates to wireless communications.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS/FIGURES

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein and form a partof the specification, illustrate the embodiments of the presentdisclosure and, together with the description, further serve to explainthe principles of the embodiments and to enable a person skilled in thepertinent art to make and use the embodiments.

FIG. 1 illustrates a system diagram of an example wireless communicationnetwork connecting a number of different wireless devices in multipleBasic Service Sets (BSSs) in accordance with the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 illustrates a wireless communications device according to anexemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 illustrates a frame exchange sequence according to an exemplaryembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 illustrates a frame structure according to an exemplaryembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 illustrates a frame structure according to an exemplaryembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 illustrates a network interface controller identifier accordingto an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 illustrates a flowchart of a CTS-Announcement frame generationand transmission method according to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

The embodiments of the present disclosure will be described withreference to the accompanying drawings. The drawing in which an elementfirst appears is typically indicated by the leftmost digit(s) in thecorresponding reference number.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth inorder to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments of thepresent disclosure. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in theart that the embodiments, including structures, systems, and methods,may be practiced without these specific details. The description andrepresentation herein are the common means used by those experienced orskilled in the art to most effectively convey the substance of theirwork to others skilled in the art. In other instances, well-knownmethods, procedures, components, and circuitry have not been describedin detail to avoid unnecessarily obscuring aspects of the disclosure.

For the purposes of this discussion, the term “processor circuitry”shall be understood to be one or more: circuit(s), processor(s), or acombination thereof. For example, a circuit can include an analogcircuit, a digital circuit, state machine logic, other structuralelectronic hardware, or a combination thereof. A processor can include amicroprocessor, a digital signal processor (DSP), or other hardwareprocessor. The processor can be “hard-coded” with instructions toperform corresponding function(s) according to embodiments describedherein. Alternatively, the processor can access an internal and/orexternal memory to retrieve instructions stored in the memory, whichwhen executed by the processor, perform the corresponding function(s)associated with the processor.

In the mobile communication area, one of the widely used protocols foruse in communicating over a wireless local area network (WLAN) is theIEEE 802.11 protocol, including the various versions of the 802.11protocol, such as 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n, and 802.11ac, etc.The IEEE 802.11 a/b/g protocols generally transmit at a carrierfrequency of 2.4 GHz or 5.0 GHz utilizing a single antenna, while802.11n/802.11ac utilize multiple antennas implementing a techniquecommonly called Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output (MIMO).

The IEEE 802.11 protocol is established as a standard and is utilizedextensively in wireless communications. A common network implementationfor a WLAN is a Basic Service Set (BSS), in which components of the BSScommunicate with each other. The BSS may be a system including a centralcoordinating device, such as an Access Point (AP), and one or moreStations (STA), e.g. mobile devices. In some instances, components of aBSS may form an ad-hoc system, known as Independent Basic Service Set(IBSS). A BSS may be a more complicated system as well, in which STAsmay communicate with one another via peer-to-peer communication withoututilizing an AP. In some instances, a device may communicate separatelywith its own subset of devices via a peer-to-peer link, such as apiconet.

FIG. 1 shows a system 100 that is an example wireless communicationnetwork connecting a number of different wireless devices in multipleBasic Service Sets (BSSs). Generally, a BSS is a group of devices thatare connected by wireless communication links (such as WLAN) tocommunicate among the devices in the group. A BSS typically has a uniqueidentifier and operates utilizing a communication protocol, such as oneof the versions of the IEEE 802.11 protocol. The BSS may have componentsthat communicate through a control point (such as an access point),communicate ad-hoc and/or communicate peer-to-peer between devices. Agiven BSS may configure a number of devices to operate within the BSS tocommunicate among the devices or between two devices (e.g.peer-to-peer). In some instances, two devices may operate as a de factoBSS.

In the particular example for system 100 of FIG. 1, a plurality of BSSs101-104 are shown as configured to operate with one or more distributionnetwork(s) 105. BSSs 101-104 (also noted respectively as BSS1, BSS2,BSS3 and BSS4) may operate independently of one another. Although BSSs1-4 are configured via network 105, one or more BSSs may use differentdistribution network(s). System 100 shows a single tie-in of the BSSsvia network(s) 105 for simplicity of explanation. Alternatively BSSs maybe configured via different networks.

For system 100, BSS1 has a plurality of devices communicating through anaccess point (AP) 110. In system 100, device 111 is a notebook computeror a personal computer (PC) with a wireless capability, device 112 is atablet computing device and device 113 is a mobile phone (such as asmartphone), in which devices 111-113 communicate with AP 110.

BSS1 also includes a wireless display device 114, which communicateswirelessly with device 111 in a peer-to-peer fashion, and a wirelessaudio device 115, which communicates with device 113 in a peer-to-peerfashion. In one example, device 114 provides a larger viewing platformfor the notebook computer 111, and device 115 provides a wearableheadphone/microphone extension to the smartphone 113. The twopeer-to-peer connections may utilize a localized piconet, which operatesseparately within the BSS1. Accordingly, the two peer-to-peerconnections in BSS1 are noted as BSS1-1 and BSS1-2. In some instances,such as for WLAN Direct peer-to-peer communications, an AP may not bepresent.

Likewise, BSS2 includes a number of devices communicating through an AP120. Device 121 is a set-top box, device 122 is a tablet computer anddevice 123 is a mobile phone (e.g. a smartphone). Set-top box 121communicates with a television set 124 for displaying various programsas well as accessing on-line content. Although television 124 maycommunicate via AP 120, a peer-to-peer link may be established betweenset-top box 121 and television 124, which is noted as BSS2-1. System 100also shows two other BSSs 103 and 104 (BSS3 and BSS4) which have variousdevices and components configured within those BSSs.

The various BSSs 101-104 may operate completely independent of otherBSSs, but when a particular BSS is within a communication vicinity ofone or more of the other BSSs, potential problems may develop betweenthe two or more BSSs. As an example, a collision may result from two ormore BSSs attempting to acquire the same frequency channel. The problemsarise because the various BSSs 101-104 use the same 2.4 GHz or 5 GHzfrequency band for their communications. The IEEE 802.11 protocol canutilize both a physical carrier sensing and a virtual carrier sensingmechanism to mitigate such medium contention and collisions.

FIG. 2 is an example wireless device 200 that further defines one ormore of the devices in FIG. 1. Device 200 includes one or moretransmitter(s) 201, one or more receiver(s) 202, one or more localoscillator(s) (LO) 207, baseband processor circuitry 205, and a memory206. Baseband processor circuitry 205 provides baseband processingoperations for incoming and outgoing signals. In embodiments, basebandprocessor circuitry 205 includes a digital-signal-processor (DSP), andmay also include a plurality of baseband processors and/or circuits. Theprocessor circuitry 205 can further include, or be coupled to, a memory260 (as shown) that stores data and/or instructions, where when theinstructions are executed by the processor(s) 205, perform the functionsdescribed herein. The memory 260 can be any well-known volatile and/ornon-volatile memory, including, for example, read-only memory (ROM),random access memory (RAM), flash memory, a magnetic storage media, anoptical disc, erasable programmable read only memory (EPROM), andprogrammable read only memory (PROM), or other known hardware memories.The memory 260 can be non-removable, removable, or a combination ofboth.

Baseband processor circuitry 205 may be coupled to a host (e.g. hostprocessor), applications processor or other unit(s) that providesoperational processing for the device and/or interface with a user. InFIG. 2, a host processor 210 is shown. Host processor 210 may be part ofthe device or it may be a separate. For example, host processor 210 mayrepresent an application portion of an application processor.

Transmitter 201 and receiver 202 provide for up-conversion anddown-conversion of outgoing and incoming signals, respectively. Indevices where multiple streams are utilized, such as for MIMO operation,a plurality of transmitters and receivers may be included to operate onthe multiple in-bound and/or out-bound streams. Where multipletransmitters and receivers are present, multiple LOs 207 may be used aswell.

Transmitter(s) 201 and receiver(s) 202 couple to a duplexer (DPXL) 203,which couples to one or more antenna(s) 204. The duplexer 203 separatesoutgoing transmit signals from incoming receive signals, using forexample one or more filters. A transmit/receive (T/R) switch or otherequivalent switching or multiplexing component may be used instead ofDPXL 203. Likewise, a variety of antennas or antenna arrays may be usedfor one or more antenna(s) 204.

Outbound data for transmission from host 210 is coupled to basebandprocessor circuitry 205 and converted to baseband signals and thencoupled to transmitter 201. Transmitter 201 up-converts the basebandsignals, using a local oscillator signal from LO 207, to provideoutbound radio frequency (RF) signals for transmission from antenna(s)204. Transmitter 201 may utilize one of a variety of up-conversion ormodulation techniques (whether direct conversion or through multipleconversion steps) to up-convert the outbound baseband signals tooutbound RF signal. Those skilled in the relevant art(s) will recognizethat the transmitter 201 can include (but is not limited to) a digitalsignal processor (DSP), data modulator, a digital-to-analog converter(DAC), and a frequency converter (including mixer(s) that operate withlocal oscillator 207, and filters) to provide some examples.

In a similar manner, inbound RF signals are received by antenna(s) 204and coupled to receiver 202. Receiver 202 then down-converts the inboundRF signals to inbound baseband signals, using a local oscillator signalfrom LO 207, which are then coupled to baseband processor circuitry 205.Receiver 202 may utilize one of a variety of down-conversion ordemodulation techniques (whether direct conversion or through multipleconversion steps) to down-convert the inbound RF signals to inboundbaseband signals. The inbound baseband signals are processed by basebandprocessor circuitry 205 and inbound data is output from basebandprocessor circuitry 205 to host processor 210. Those skilled in therelevant art(s) will recognize that the receiver 202 can include (but isnot limited to) a frequency converter (including mixer(s) that operatewith local oscillator 207, and filters), a demodulator, ananalog-to-analog converter (ADC), and a DSP, to provide some examples.

LO 207 provides local oscillation signals for use by transmitter 201 forup-conversion and by receiver 202 for down-conversion. In someembodiments, separate LOs may be used for transmitter 201 and receiver202. Although a variety of LO circuitry may be used, in someembodiments, a Phase-Locked Loop (PLL) is utilized to lock the LO to afrequency stable LO signal based on a selected frequency.

In one embodiment, baseband processor circuitry 205, LO 207, memory 206,transmitter 201, and receiver 202 are integrated on a same integratedcircuit (IC) chip 209. Transmitter 201 and receiver 202 are typicallyreferred to as the RF front-end. In other embodiments, one or more ofthese components may be on separate IC chips. Similarly, othercomponents shown in FIG. 2 may be incorporated on the same IC chip,along with baseband processor circuitry 205, LO 207, transmitter 201 andreceiver 202. In some embodiments, the antenna 204 may also beincorporated on the same IC chip as well. Furthermore, with the adventof system-on-chip (SOC) integration, host devices, applicationprocessors and/or user interfaces, such as host processor 210, may beintegrated on the same IC chip along with baseband processor circuitry205 and the radio front-end.

Additionally, although one transmitter 201 and one receiver 202 areshown in FIG. 2, other embodiments may utilize multiple transmitters andreceivers, as well as multiple LOs, as will be understood by thoseskilled in the art. For example, multiple input and/or multiple outputcommunications, such as multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO)communication, may utilize multiple transmitters 201 and/or receivers202 (as well as multiple Los 207) as part of the RF front-end.

In an exemplary embodiment, the wireless device 200 is configured forwireless communications conforming to IEEE's 802.11 WLAN specification.In this example, the wireless device 200 can be referred to as WLANtransceiver 200. Those skilled in the relevant art(s) will understandthat the transceiver 200 is not limited to communication conforming tothe IEEE 802.11 WLAN specification, and can be configured forcommunications that conform to other applicable wireless communicationprotocol, e.g. WiMax and ZigBee (IEEE 802.15.4).

In the wireless communication illustrated by the exemplary embodiment inFIG. 1, medium access is coordinated as specified by the IEEE 802.11WLAN Media Access Control (MAC) protocol to avoid collisions so atransmission can be received successfully by the receiver. The enablingtechnologies include both a physical carrier sensing (CS) mechanism anda virtual carrier sense mechanism. The former is known aslisten-before-talk, that is, a wireless device has to try to detectwireless signals over the communication channel and/or energy over theair and hold off transmission if the medium is found busy. The virtualCS mechanism is achieved by distributing reservation informationannouncing the impending use of the medium. The exchange ofRequest-To-Send (RTS) and Clear-to-Send (CTS) frames prior to thetransmission of the actual data frame is one means of distributing thismedium reservation information. The RTS and CTS frames contain aDuration field that defines the period of time that the medium is to bereserved for transmission of the actual data frame and the return of theACK frame. A STA receiving either the RTS (sent by the originating STA)or the CTS (sent by the destination STA) shall process the mediumreservation. Thus, a STA might be unable to receive signals from theoriginating STA and yet still know about the impending use of the mediumto transmit a data frame.

FIG. 3 illustrates such a RTS and CTS exchange sequence. There are fourSTAs, 310, 330, 350, and 360 in the communication system, such as aWLAN. STA1 310 transmits an RTS frame 315 destined for STA2 330. STA2330, after receiving RTS 315, responds with a CTS frame 335 andcompletes the RTS/CTS handshake. STA1 310 then proceeds to transmit DATAframe 320 to STA2 330, which responds with an ACK frame 340, completingthe whole data frame transmission sequence. The RTS/CTS frames include aduration field that identifies the time of the DATA/ACK frame exchangefollowing the RTS/CTS frames, respectively. There are two otherstations, STA3 350 and STA4 360 in FIG. 3 contending for medium accessas well. When STA3 350 receives the RTS frame 315 and the CTS frame 335,and it finds out from their duration field that other stations (e.g.STAs 310, 330) have reserved the medium for the time duration specifiedin the RTS/CTS frame. According to the IEEE 802.11 MAC protocol, STA3will set up a network allocation vector (NAV) 355 to mark the mediumduring the identified time duration as busy. STA4 360, on the otherhand, couldn't receive RTS 315 successfully, but it does receive CTS 335successfully. It will also set up its NAV 365 and mark the medium asbusy during the DATA 320 and ACK 340 exchange time.

FIG. 4 illustrates the RTS and CTS frame format that representative ofRTS frame 315 and CTS frame 335, respectively. The RTS frame 400includes fields 410-430, including: a Frame Control field 410, aDuration field 415, a Receiver Address (RA) field 420, a TransmitterAddress (TA) field 425, and a Frame Check Sequence (FCS) field 430. TheCTS frame 450 includes fields 460-475, including: Frame Control 460,Duration 465, RA 470, and FCS 475, similar to the RTS frame, except thatit doesn't have a TA field.

Furthermore, in the virtual carrier sensing mechanism, any individuallyaddressed frame can contain the duration field to distribute the mediumreservation information. This field identifies the time that the mediumis reserved, either to the end of the immediately following ACK, or inthe case of a multi-frame sequence, to the end of the ACK following thelast frame in the sequence. Therefore, a wireless device can send out aCTS frame independent of the RTS/CTS handshake to reserve the medium.However, when being transmitted not as a response to an RTS frame, a CTSframe should be designed carefully in order to avoid confusion in thecommunication protocol. For example, if a device uses a random addressin such a CTS frame's RA field and by chance this address is the same asanother device's network address within communication range, the CTSframe can be mistaken by that device as a response frame to RTS framesit transmitted. The following DATA frame transmission can result incollision, wasting devices' energy and degrading network efficiency.

FIG. 5 illustrates a CTS 500 that further defines CTS frame 400according to embodiments of the disclosure. Accordingly, CTS 500includes frame control field 510, duration field 515, receiver addressfield (RA) 520, and frame check sequence field (FCS) 525. In FIG. 5, theRA field included in the CTS frame is an instance of a Media AccessControl (MAC) address used in IEEE 802 networks, including both Ethernetand WLAN networks. A wireless device such as devices 110-115, 120-124 inFIG. 1, or 200 in FIG. 2, can have multiple Network InterfaceControllers (NICs) and each NIC has a unique MAC address. To distributeMAC addresses systematically and with uniqueness, the IEEE divides theaddress bytes 530 in transmission order into two parts: OrganizationalUnique Identifier (OUI) 540 and NIC specific identifier 545. The OUI 540is assigned by the IEEE to an organization such as a manufacture or adevice vendor, and then the organization (e.g. manufacturer) assigns thefollowing NIC specific identifier 545 freely, without concern for nameconfliction with an address assigned by another organization. Of course,any organization should manage the NIC specific address space carefullyto avoid duplicate addresses within its own organization. Anorganization can own more than one OUI. As shown in FIG. 5, in oneparticular example, bytes 530 in the RA field 520 are apportioned sothat the bytes 1-3 are used for the OUI identifier 540 and bytes 4-6 areused for the NIC specific identifier 545. However, other apportionmentsand/or locations can be used without deviating from the scope and spiritof the disclosure.

This disclosure presents a modified CTS frame that includes mediumreservation, and additionally an announcement of a device's upcomingactivity, according to embodiments of the disclosure. In furtherancethereof, FIG. 6 shows an exemplary format of a CTS-Announcement (CTS-A)frame formed from bytes 630, according embodiments of the disclosure.CTS frame 600 has FC field 610, Duration field 615, RA field 620, andFCS field 625. The fields 610, 615, and 625 are similar to thecorresponding ones of CTS frame 500. However, the RA field 620 isdesigned to have a dedicated OUI field 640, an Announcement informationfield 645, and the remaining part of the original network interface'sMAC address 650. In an embodiment, the OUI 640 is dedicated for suchCTS-A frames and will not be assigned to represent any actual networkdevice (or group of devices), so as to differentiate the frame andpurpose. In other words, the communications devices in the correspondingnetwork are configured to recognize a particular OUI 640 as anidentifier of a CTS-A frame, thereby extending or modifying theinterpretation of an OUI by the network devices. In the exemplaryembodiment, the announcement information field 645 contains threefields: version 660, category 665 and type 670, discussed further below.

In FIG. 6, the dedicated OUI 640 occupies bytes 1-3 of the receiveraddress (RA) field 620. The dedicated OUI 640 not only distinguishes aCTS-A frame from a non-CTS-A frame, but also provides organizationidentification and enables the organization to deploy certainproprietary features and/or protocols among all devices that canrecognize this CTS-A OUI. The announcement info field 645 can occupybyte 4 and provides details of the purpose of this CTS-A frame, which isnot limited to reserving medium access. The remaining part of theaddress field 650 keeps the corresponding part of the original NICaddress, bytes 5 and 6 in the example. While a partial unique MACaddress cannot warrant global uniqueness, it helps identify the devicein a local network within communication range that transmits the CTS-Aframe. As will be understood by those skilled in the arts, other addressfield configurations (e.g. byte delineations) can be used withoutdeparting from the scope and spirit of the disclosure.

The CTS-A frame can be used for many purposes which are not limited tomedium reservation. In an exemplary scenario, a wireless device, such asdevice 110 in FIG. 1, needs to perform some device calibration for ashort period of time. In order not to disrupt the service to otherassociated clients such as device 112 in FIG. 1, it can transmit a CTS-Aframe informing devices in the communication range. The announcementinformation field 645 will convey specific information about thecalibration. When another device receives the CTS-A frame, if it isconfigured so that it is unable to identify such CTS-A frame, it willconform to the virtual carrier sense rule and not transmit during thetime specified in the CTS-A frame's Duration field 615. However, fordevices that can recognize such CTS-A frame format, they only need torefrain from transmitting frames to devices with the last two bytes ofMAC addresses matching the last two bytes of RA address 620 in thereceived CTS-A frame, but they can communicate with other devices. Forexample, device 111 can continue to perform transmission to device 114in FIG. 1. As the result, the overall network utilization is improved.

Another exemplary usage of the CTS-A frame is flow control. An exemplarydevice as illustrated in FIG. 2 can be memory constrained at times. Insome circumstances, a device can be short of memory space for a short ofperiod of time due to various reasons such as: high demand on bothactive transmission and receive streams, a slow and bursty communicationbus, or a temporary host resource shortage, among other reasons.However, there has been lack of a means at the MAC layer to notify thepeer devices of its memory shortage. The CTS-A frame described hereincan be used to implement a flow control mechanism. The device that isshort of memory can transmit a CTS-A frame with announcement informationin the field 645 that conveys its memory shortage state. Upon receipt byanother device, the transmitter will hold off the transmission for thetime specified in the CTS-A frame or wait for the receiver (i.e. senderof the CTS-A frame) to announce that the memory shortage has beenresolved, one or both of which can be indicated by furtherimplementation details of the announcement info field 645 and thedesigned flow control protocol. The design of version field 660,category field 665 and type field 670 illustrated in FIG. 6 allowsflexibility of various protocol design and future extension.

In an exemplary embodiment, and with continued reference to FIG. 6, bits0-1 of the announcement information field 645 (e.g. byte 4) can defineone or more announcement versions. For example, bits 0-1 can define fourannouncement versions identified as versions zero to three. Bits 2-4 ofthe byte 4 of the announcement information field 645 can define one ormore mode categories—such as, for example, legacy protection,calibration, coexistence operation, other basic service set (OBSS)protection, and/or one or more other categories—such as, for example,bandwidth information, interference information, etc. —as will beunderstood by those skilled in the relevant arts. In operation, the bits2-4 can define, for example, seven mode categories and each of theversions includes a set of mode categories. That is, by having a 2-bitversion range of 0-3, where each 3-bit version includes eightcategories, the version bits 0-1 and categories bits 2-4 can define 32different mode categories.

In these examples, the legacy protection mode can identify whether thecommunication system 100 will maintain, or is maintaining support forlegacy communications protocols, such as, for example, 802.11b, 802.11g,etc. The calibration mode can identify that during the time specified inthe Duration field of the CTS-Announcement frame 600, the device will beperforming calibration and cannot participate in normal communicationwith other devices. The coexistence operation mode can identify whetherthe transmitting device and/or one or more other devices supports and/orwill be utilizing coexistence functionality using one or more othercommunication protocols (e.g., BTCX, LTECX, WLCX, etc.). The OBSSprotection mode can identify whether any protection procedures are to beutilized.

Bits 5-7 of the byte 4 of the announcement info field 645 can bereserved for additional information—such as, for example, bandwidthinformation, interference information, and/or any other information aswould be understood by those of ordinary skill in the relevant arts.

FIG. 7 illustrates a flowchart 700 of a CTS-A frame generation andtransmission method according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentdisclosure. The method of flowchart 700 is described with continuedreference to one or more of FIGS. 1-6. The steps of the method offlowchart 700 are not limited to the order described below, and thevarious steps may be performed in a different order. Further, two ormore steps of the method of flowchart 700 may be performedsimultaneously with each other. Still further, the steps of flowchart700 can be performed by wireless device 200, and more specifically, bythe processor circuitry 205 in conjunction with the other elements ofthe wireless device 200.

The method of flowchart 700 begins at step 705, where an event to beannounced and associated information is received. After step 705, themethod of flowchart 700 transitions to step 710, where the eventinformation is encoded into the announcement information 645. Forexample, the processor circuitry 205 can receive event information fromhost 210. Example events include a device calibration and/or flowcontrol, among others.

The method of flowchart 700 then moves to step 715 and 720, where theinformation of a dedicated Organizationally Unique Identifier (OUI) andthe MAC address is gathered. In an exemplary embodiment, the OUI (e.g.,OUI 540) and MAC address is received at, for example, processorcircuitry 205 from, for example, host 210, or retrieved from memory 206with or without instruction from host 210. In operation, the informationof the event to be announced, and/or OUI and MAC address can be receivedin response to one or more requests generated by the processor circuitry205 and sent to the host 210.

After step 720, the method of flowchart 700 transitions to step 725,where the received OUI, portion of the network interface address (e.g.MAC address), and the encoded announcement information are assembledtogether, by the processor circuitry 205, to create the receiver addressfor a CTS-A frame. For example, the 3-byte OUI 640, one-byteannouncement information 645 and the last two bytes of the MAC address650 of the device can formulate a new address for the receiver address(RA) field 620 of the CTS-A frame 600.

After step 725, the method of flowchart 700 transitions to step 730,where a frame duration field 615 is computed or received by theprocessor circuitry 205. For example, the duration value can be receivedby processor circuitry 205 from host 210, and/or retrieved from thememory 206. It is also possible that the duration value is computed bythe processor circuitry 205 based on the event to be announced.

After step 730, the method of flowchart 700 proceeds to step 735, wherethe remaining fields of the CTS-A frame 600, for example, the framecontrol field 610, frame check sequence (FCS) 625, are generated, forexample, by processor circuitry 205. In operation, these fields (orinformation related thereto) can be received in response to one or morerequests generated by the processor circuitry 205 that are sent to thehost 210. In an exemplary embodiment, the processor circuitry 205 can beconfigured to generate the frame control field 610, the duration field615, and/or the frame check sequence (FCS) field 625, which can besubsequently stored in, and retrieved from, memory 206.

After step 735, the method of flowchart 700 transitions to step 740,where the generated CTS-A frame 600 is transmitted. In an exemplaryembodiment, the processor circuitry 205 can be configured to wirelesslytransmit the CTS-A frame 600 using the transceiver 201.

CONCLUSION

The aforementioned description of the specific embodiments will so fullyreveal the general nature of the disclosure that others can, by applyingknowledge within the skill of the art, readily modify and/or adapt forvarious applications such specific embodiments, without undueexperimentation, without departing from the general concept of thepresent disclosure. Therefore, such adaptations and modifications areintended to be within the meaning and range of equivalents of thedisclosed embodiments, based on the teaching and guidance presentedherein. It is to be understood that the phraseology or terminologyherein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation, suchthat the terminology or phraseology of the present specification is tobe interpreted by the skilled artisan in light of the teachings andguidance.

References in the specification to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,”“an exemplary embodiment,” etc., indicate that the embodiment describedmay include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, butevery embodiment may not necessarily include the particular feature,structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarilyreferring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature,structure, or characteristic is described in connection with anembodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of oneskilled in the art to affect such feature, structure, or characteristicin connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitlydescribed.

The exemplary embodiments described herein are provided for illustrativepurposes, and are not limiting. Other exemplary embodiments arepossible, and modifications may be made to the exemplary embodimentswithin the spirit and scope of the disclosure. Therefore, thespecification is not meant to limit the disclosure. Rather, the scope ofthe disclosure is defined only in accordance with the following claimsand their equivalents.

Embodiments may be implemented in hardware (e.g., circuits), firmware,software, or any combination thereof. Embodiments may also beimplemented as instructions stored on a machine-readable medium, whichmay be read and executed by one or more processors. A machine-readablemedium may include any mechanism for storing or transmitting informationin a form readable by a machine (e.g., a computing device). For example,a machine-readable medium may include read only memory (ROM); randomaccess memory (RAM); magnetic disk storage media; optical storage media;flash memory devices; and other hardware mediums. Further, firmware,software, routines, instructions may be described herein as performingcertain actions. However, it should be appreciated that suchdescriptions are merely for convenience and that such actions in factresults from computing devices, processors, controllers, or otherdevices executing the firmware, software, routines, instructions, etc.Further, any of the implementation variations may be carried out by ageneral purpose computer.

In embodiments having one or more components that include one or moreprocessors, one or more of the processors can include (and/or beconfigured to access) one or more internal and/or external memories thatstore instructions and/or code that, when executed by the processor(s),cause the processor(s) to perform one or more functions and/oroperations related to the operation of the corresponding component(s) asdescribed herein and/or as would appreciated by those skilled in therelevant art(s).

It is to be appreciated that the Detailed Description section, and notthe Summary and Abstract sections, is intended to be used to interpretthe claims. The Summary and Abstract sections may set forth one or morebut not all exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure ascontemplated by the inventors, and thus, are not intended to limit thepresent disclosure and the appended claims in any way.

The present disclosure has been described above with the aid offunctional building blocks illustrating the implementation of specifiedfunctions and relationships thereof. The boundaries of these functionalbuilding blocks have been arbitrarily defined herein for the convenienceof the description. Alternate boundaries may be defined so long as thespecified functions and relationships thereof are appropriatelyperformed.

What is claimed is:
 1. A communication device, comprising: a transceiverconfigured to communicate with one or more other communication devices;and processor circuitry communicatively coupled to the transceiver, theprocessor circuitry configured to: generate a clear-to-send announcement(CTS-Announcement) frame including an organizational identifier and anetwork interface identifier; and transmit, using the transceiver, theCTS-Announcement frame to the one or more other communication devices,wherein the network interface identifier includes announcementinformation and a portion of an address that identifies thecommunication device to the one or more other communication devices. 2.The communication device of claim 1, wherein the organizationalidentifier uniquely identifies an organization or manufacturerassociated with the communication device.
 3. The communication device ofclaim 1, wherein the organizational identifier is assigned by theInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).
 4. Thecommunication device of claim 1, wherein the CTS-Announcement frameincludes a receiver address field, and wherein the organizationalidentifier and the network interface identifier are included in thereceiver address field.
 5. The communication device of claim 4, whereinthe receiver address field is six bytes, a first three bytes of thereceiver address field being occupied by the organizational identifierand a last three bytes of the receiver address field being occupied bythe network interface identifier.
 6. The communication device of claim1, wherein the announcement information occupies a first byte of thenetwork interface identifier and the portion of the address thatidentifies the communication device occupies at least a second byte ofthe network interface identifier.
 7. The communication device of claim6, wherein the second byte and a third byte of the network interfaceidentifier corresponds to a last two bytes of the address thatidentifies the communication device.
 8. The communication device ofclaim 1, wherein the CTS-Announcement frame further includes a framecontrol field, a duration field and a frame check sequence.
 9. Thecommunication device of claim 1, wherein the announcement informationcomprises one of a protection mode, a calibration mode, an operationalmode, or an operation activity.
 10. The communication device of claim 9,wherein the protection mode is configured to identify support for one ormore legacy protocols within a communication environment servicing thecommunication device.
 11. The communication device of claim 9, whereinthe calibration mode is configured to identify that the CTS-Announcementframe or one or more subsequently transmitted data frames is associatedwith one or more calibration procedures.
 12. The communication device ofclaim 9, wherein the operational mode is configured to identify one ormore coexistence functionalities supported by the communication device.13. A communication device, comprising: a transceiver configured tocommunicate with one or more other communication devices; and processorcircuitry communicatively coupled to the transceiver, the processorcircuitry configured to: generate a clear-to-send announcement(CTS-Announcement) frame including a network interface identifier,wherein the network interface identifier includes announcementinformation and a portion of an address that identifies thecommunication device to the one or more other communication devices;transmit, using the transceiver, the CTS-Announcement frame to the oneor more other communication devices; generate a data frame; andtransmit, using the transceiver, the data frame to the one or more othercommunication devices after transmitting the CTS-Announcement frame. 14.The communication device of claim 13, wherein the CTS-Announcement frameincludes a receiver address field, and wherein an organizationalidentifier and the network interface identifier are included in thereceiver address field.
 15. The communication device of claim 14,wherein the organizational identifier uniquely identifies anorganization or manufacturer associated with the communication device.16. The communication device of claim 14, wherein the receiver addressfield is six bytes, a first three bytes of the receiver address fieldbeing occupied by the organizational identifier and a last three bytesof the receiver address field being occupied by the network interfaceidentifier.
 17. The communication device of claim 13, wherein theannouncement information occupies a first byte of the network interfaceidentifier and the portion of the address that identifies thecommunication device occupies at least a second byte of the networkinterface identifier.
 18. The communication device of claim 13, whereinthe announcement information comprises one of a protection mode, acalibration mode, an operational mode, or an operation activity.
 19. Amethod of operating a communication device to communicate with one ormore other communication devices, the method comprising: receivingannouncement information associated with an upcoming event for thecommunication device; generating a clear-to-send announcement(CTS-Announcement) frame including a network interface identifier,wherein the network interface identifier includes the announcementinformation and a portion of an address that identifies thecommunication device to the one or more other communication devices; andtransmitting, using a transceiver of the communications device, theCTS-Announcement frame to the one or more other communication devices.20. The method of claim 19, wherein the announcement informationoccupies a first byte of the network interface identifier and theportion of the address that identifies the communication device occupiesat least a second byte of the network interface identifier.